Debenhams: Plans lodged to turn Bury St Edmunds store into cinema

Debenhams had been the "anchor" store of the Arc Shopping Centre before it closed in May 2021

Plans have been lodged to turn part of a former Debenhams store into a cinema.

The Everyman Cinema group has submitted a proposal to convert part of the basement of the former department store in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

The developer said a cinema would "promote the vitality" of the town, which already has two cinemas.

Debenhams had been the "anchor" store of the Arc shopping centre before it closed in May 2021, along with 123 others across the country.

Bury WM Unit Trust's planning application said there would be four cinema screens, with a fifth for private hire, as well as a small bar and restaurant area.

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The development would "promote the vitality and viability of the town centre by securing a leisure and entertainment use within the primary shopping area," the application, submitted to West Suffolk Council, said.

It added: "It will make effective use of previously developed land within Bury St Edmunds' town centre."

Everyman Group currently owns 36 cinemas, but in its application it said it was looking for opportunities to grow that number, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Debenhams was the "anchor" store for the Arc shopping precinct which opened in Bury St Edmunds town centre in 2009

The Debenhams was built as the flagship store when the Arc opened in 2009 on the former cattle market site.

Any cinema would be in addition to the town's Abbeygate Picturehouse on Hatter Street, which opened as The Central in 1923, and the Cineworld multiplex which opened on Parkway in 2005.